Despite slipping a full 51% from its opening weekend, Sylvester Stallone's box office comeback, The Expendables, outgunned and outmuscled no less than five new releases this past weekend to hold on to the number one slot.  As is usual for the mid-August dumping ground season, all of these five debuting flicks were dead on arrival, but fortunately for the studios, they were mostly cheaply-made fare.  Really not much more to say about this.

This Friday, only two new releases are opening in wide release: the horror flick, The Last Exorcism and the action caper, Takers, starring Paul Walker.

Here are the box office actuals for the weekend of August 20-22, 2010:

The Expendables proved to have the most firepower among this weekend's debuts as the Sylvester Stallone written and directed action flick powered its way to the number one slot.  The Expendables, which was independently financed, reportedly cost Lionsgate Films about $20 million for the rights to distribute, making this a wise investment on its part.  Julia Roberts' latest, Eat Pray Love, managed an okay beginning at over $23 million, good enough for second.  However, the latest indie comic to be brought to the big screen, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, faltered, coming in fifth place with a subpar $10.6 million in spite of being squarely marketed to the Playstation generation with a story that somewhat mirrored a video game itself.  Last week's openers, The Other Guys and Step Up 3D, each fell more than 50% in their second weekends.

August is typically the month where a lot of not-quite blockbusters are dumped as the back-to-school season begins, and this Friday's five new releases will likely continue that trend and underwhelm at the box office.  They include Lottery Ticket, Nanny McPhee Returns, Piranha 3D, The Switch, and Vampires Suck.  Still, all that overcrowding will undoubtedly cut heavily into the second week tallys of this week's debuts.

Here are the box office actuals for the weekend of August 13-15, 2010:

After three weeks at the top spot, Christopher Nolan's Inception has been dethroned by the Will Ferrell / Mark Wahlberg action comedy, The Other Guys, coming as a surprise to no one.  The other new entrant, Step Up 3D, had the weakest debut among the trilogy in spite of its appearing in the more costly 3D theaters.  The first Step Up, starring a then-relatively unknown Channing Tatum, was a surprise hit, grossing over $114 million worldwide on a $12 million production budget.  2008's Step Up 2: The Streets actually fared better, even with Tatum appearing in just a cameo, amassing almost $150 million globally.  While Step Up 3D only made $5 million less in its opening weekend than the first did, it is audience attendance that truly tells the story here.  A full 81% of its box office came from the more expensive 3D theaters meaning that there was a significant dropoff in audience from the first two movies to this latest, and possibly final, film in the series.

None of last week's three debuts held well in their second weeks.  Dinner for Schmucks proved to be a schlemiel and tumbled almost 56% percent, while Charlie St. Cloud proved to be a one-week wonder and plunged 62%.  In better news, the animated hits Despicable Me and Toy Story 3 continued to do well, with Toy Story closing in on $400 million domestically.

This Friday, three quite different and interesting movies debut.  It would be a surprise if the weekend didn't belong to Julia Roberts and Eat Pray Love, but Scott Pilgrim vs. the World has all the potential of becoming a break out surprise hit.  This is one to keep an eye on as pre-release buzz and a successful promo at the recent San Diego Comic-Con may turn this relatively obsure comic into a dark horse favorite.  The other new release, The Expendables, stars a cast that, quite frankly, Hollywood has found expendable in recent years including Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren.  Stallone also directed and co-wrote the script.  Not only that, but Arnold Schwarzenegger makes his triumphant return to acting in this action flick.  What more can we say?

 Here are the box office actuals for the weekend of August 6-8, 2010:

While the top spot is once again taken by director Christopher Nolan's latest, Inception, there was plenty of movement and change among the top 12.  We had three debuts, all of which did not quite as well as we predicted they would last week.  However, we held out the possiblility that Dinner for Schmucks could open weaker than expected, which would allow Inception to retain its box office crown, and that's exactly what happened.  The big question mark among the debuts, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, opened out of the top 5 altogether.  Again, it was a sequel that came about seven years too late for its original audience to care.  Costing $85 million to produce, it will likely not even cross the $50 million mark, making it one of the summer's big bombs in the family film genre.

The big story here among family films is the continued strength of Despicable Me, which has seen relatively small week-to-week drops and will sail past the $200 million dollar mark before the end of the week.  Of course, Toy Story 3 is not slowing much either as it closes in on $400 million domestic.

Next week's debuts include four wide releases: The Other Guys starring WIll Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, which will likely take the pole position, Step Up 3D (the latest in the franchise now with 3D, but without its star, Channing Tatum, who at least made a cameo in the second flick), Flipped, and Middle Men starring Luke Wilson.

 Here are the box office actuals for the weekend of July 30-August 1, 2010: